By Marty Baker

You may recall that the August 15, 2006 edition of the Wall Street Journal called attention to a demand for welders in the article, “Where Have All the Welders Gone, As Manufacturing and Repair Boom?” by Ilan Brat.  This was followed by an article in the local Troy Daily News on September 3, “Meeting Industry Demand: School Turns Out Skilled Workers,” by Ron Osburn.

On December 2, Dayton Daily News writer John Nolan highlighted, “Welding Job’s Availability Hot, In a Way.”  This was accompanied by a video by Meghan Crosby that was shot at Hobart Institute and appeared on the Dayton Daily News web site.

National press was received from USA Today in an article December 5 by Barbara Hagenbaugh, “U.S. Manufacturers Getting Desperate for Skilled People,” in which HIWT President Andre Odermatt stated that job postings at the school have risen 40% in the last year. Companies are increasingly offering sign-on bonuses of as much as $3,000 and are coming from as far away as California and offering to pay relocation for students willing to move.

Hagenbaugh also quoted Richard Smith, who believes that's good news. The 29-year-old from Chillicothe, Ohio, graduated Dec. 15 from the nine-month Combination Structural and Pipe Welding Program at the Hobart Institute of Welding Technology. He's received three job offers, paying $16 to $19 an hour, or more than three times the federal minimum wage. The companies are also paying medical benefits, offering 401(k) plans and paying for additional training.

"It really took me off my feet," says Smith, who got interested in welding while he was in the Navy.

Much of this interest is being generated by groups such as the American Welding Society and the National Association of Manufacturers, along with the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, who have conducted surveys of the manufacturing sector and found that more than 80 percent of the companies report that they are experiencing a shortage of skilled and qualified workers. 

John Engler, president of the National Association of Manufacturers and the keynote speaker at the 2006 FABTECH International and AWS Welding Show, indicates that he sees the looming shortage of skilled manufacturing employees as a real and growing threat to American competitiveness in the 21^st century’s high-tech global economy.  Engler believes better educating the next generation of manufacturing workers is imperative and he advocates making innovation and quality as central to our education systems as it is to U.S. manufacturing.

Hobart Institute is contributing to that education and quality mindset.  Students here are expected to excel.  Perfect attendance and hard work in the classroom and training booth is rewarded by good job offers from top companies across the country.  Meeting these goals is really the good news!